NPR reports:

The price of diesel has reached an all-time high, according to AAA.

The national average for a gallon is now $5.85. That exceeds the previous high in June 2022, when the average for a gallon reached $5.81 a few months after Russia invaded Ukraine, according to AAA data.

The record high is significant because diesel powers much of the industrial supply chain in the United States via the “three t’s” of the economy: trains, tractors, and trucks, says Patrick De Haan, petroleum analyst at GasBuddy, a travel app that tracks gas and diesel prices.

A gallon of diesel cost $3.76 on the eve of the Iran war. It’s now up more than $2. And De Haan says, when diesel drives the supply chain and that cost goes up, “There’s going to be a trickle down.”

Those increased costs trickle down into everything. Lots of farm equipment relies on diesel — so higher diesel risks making the cost of farming, and eventually food, more expensive. And when it’s more expensive to fill up trucks, those transportation costs risk spilling over into much of what people buy. About 90% of the nation’s 500,000 school buses run on diesel, and the rising price has stretched district budgets as the school year begins. [Continue reading…]